- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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The SoCal indie cowboys deliver an album completely displaying musical, songwriting, and repertory growth from their critically acclaimed self-titled debut.
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Alternative PressThe pop smarts practically shimmer throughout. [Dec 2001, p.83]
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Their four-way harmonies soar to meet that now-familiar, West Coast country jangle, tart pop songs blending into a deep, rich mulch out of which melodies grow like wildflowers.
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By scaling warm guitar lines, keen melodies, and a valuable sense of history, these Sparks continue to fly.
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MojoThe Sparks take the nascent country rock of their obvious influence and extraploate every last ounce of plangent guitar chime and yearing vocal polyphony until they ring afresh. [Nov 2001, p.100]
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The Beachwood Sparks balance deft restraint with hot guitar licks, making Once We Were Trees the best Byrds album since Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
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When I take into account that 1) there are actual songs here, not just parodies, and 2) most of the tunes were fun to listen to, I remember that playing rock-- psychedelic, trashy or otherwise-- doesn't have to be an exercise in originality.
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Get past that intentional AM-radio blur and you hear a rich album full of texture and subtlety.... Thing is, as good as this is, it could be better.
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Q MagazineUnlike, say, fellow old-time Americana acolytes Mercury Rev, Beachwood Sparks lack sufficient melodic brio and steadfastly refuse to make any concessions to 21st century life. [Nov 2001, p.116]
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Beachwood Sparks do their Sixties So-Cal thing so well, you kind of wish they'd stick with it and leave the genre blending and apocalyptic disillusionment to Radiohead.
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SpinMore coherent, conceptual, and organic than their eponymous British Invasion-influenced debut. [Dec 2001, p.154]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 3 out of 3
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Mixed: 0 out of 3
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Negative: 0 out of 3
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MikHJan 19, 2005